The Impact of the German Election on the Chinese Economy
News 2025-03-04
IPP Exclusive Interview｜Zheng Chunrong
IPP
Many Chinese seem to think that the Alternative for Germany party is relatively “pro-China”. This includes the Christian Democratic Union, whose former leader, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also had very good relations with China. So, will the new German government have a more friendly policy toward China?
Zheng Chunrong: The current situation is that during the “traffic light” coalition government, the direction of “de-risking” China in the European environment has not changed, including Europe’s “triple positioning” towards China – China is a “partner” in terms of addressing climate change, a “competitor” in the field of technology and economy, and an “opponent” in terms of system and governance model. Germany actually deals with China under this framework.
But we can see that under Scholz’s leadership, there are actually different voices within the government. For example, under the leadership of Chancellor Scholz, the SPD’s China policy is generally more pragmatic and advocates strengthening cooperation with China; but the Green Party takes a tougher attitude on China. Therefore, we can see that there are indeed different voices within the coalition government on China policy.
However, in the actual China policy, on the one hand, Germany is indeed “de-risking”; but on the other hand, it is also maintaining economic, trade and investment relations with China.
After entering the new government, the overall situation has not changed – the “de-risking” policy is still continuing, so the emphasis on security issues will continue.
But on the other hand, Europe is now facing many economic difficulties. The new coalition government, whether it is the CDU/CSU or the SPD, needs to resolve many contradictions between the US and Europe – especially in defense and trade.
Therefore, they also need to find a way to hedge: if further cracks appear in US-EU relations, then Germany’s cooperation with China will inevitably need to be strengthened. In order to deal with its own economic problems, Germany also needs to strengthen cooperation with China in some areas.
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